LeoDV's Journal: Sunday Bloody Sundayyyyy...

I just finished watching the movie Bloody Sunday about, well, Bloody Sunday, that day when the North Irish Civil Rights Movement marched peacefully agaisnt the mass internments without trial and were shot on by the British military.

The toll? 13 dead, 14 injuried, one movie, one song by U2.

Angola : hundreds of thousands killed or starved, 0 movie, 0 songs by pop-rock bands.

Rwanda : 800,000 dead, 0 movie, 0 songs by pop-rock bands.

What's the difference? The Irish are white, and rich. I love Ireland and the Irish, and have deep respect for the Irish cause, and certainly don't mean to play down the significance of the Irish Civil Rights Movement or the horror of the death of those innocent men and women, but SHIT.

I wouldn't blame U2

[Quantum Jim]

I wouldn't blame U2; they are Irish after all. Naturally I expect them to sing (at least something) about their country's history.

Re:I wouldn't blame U2

[LeoDV]

Congrats on being the first comment to my journal!

I don't blame U2 either, and I certainly don't blame anyone for giving attention to the Irish Civil Rights Movement. I blame the media for not giving attention to Angola and Rwanda as people were slaughtered and starved to death by the tens of thousands. I blame the media's selective attention-allocating process, so to speak.

Besides, Bono being the huge civil rights advocate Nobel Prize nominee asshole that he is, has done stuff for a lot more than just hi

Re:I wouldn't blame U2

[Quantum Jim]

I've found that it isn't really productive to blame industries such as "the media" or institutions such as "the government" or "mainstream society" for injustices. After all, the institutions are amoral things - it is the people who run them who must be held accountable. The defects perceived in these institutions are actually symptoms of something else: corrupt humans running them. It makes more sense to blame the editors of the most popular news media networks, the managers of the RIAA, the musicians e

Re:I wouldn't blame U2

[Quantum Jim]

Oops, wrong button. :-( That should read:

I've found that it isn't really productive to blame industries such as "the media" or institutions such as "the government" or "mainstream society" for injustices. After all, the institutions are amoral things - it is the people who run them who must be held accountable. The defects perceived in these institutions are actually symptoms of something else: corrupt humans running them. It makes more sense to blame the editors of the most popular news media networks, t

Re:I wouldn't blame U2

[LeoDV]

"

After all, the institutions are amoral things - it is the people who run them who must be held accountable."

Funny, I was about to post a new journal item saying the same thing about the Slashdot moderation system. :)

I realise that saying "the media" or "the government" or whatever is a blanket statement that really means nothing. But the people behind them are the same thing as the institution themselves. Does it make a difference to blame "Fox News" or "Rupert Murdoch" for misinforming the American peopl

Re:I wouldn't blame U2

[Quantum Jim]

Not sure I totally agree, but there's one really bad error in your article:

It is a popular misconception that affirmative action is basically racial quotas. AA actually encompasses a lot of programs for the purpose of ending racial inequalities in America. Other less controversial parts of AA include community outreach and public education programs.

A conspiracy theorist might think that this is intentional - on the part of two groups of racist politicians. One hopes for either the demise of all the pro

Re:I wouldn't blame U2

[LeoDV]

No problem.

And you're not sure you agree? I don't mind, I have crackpot theories. Like what Roosevelt said about Churchill : "He has a thousand ideas every day, and a few of them are really good. Problem is, he doesn't know which ones."